Carson Soucy is traded for the second time in two seasons. He heads to Long Island in the first trade between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in more than 15 years.
The New York Rangers traded defenseman Carson Soucy to the New York Islanders.
The Rangers received a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL draft in return.
Monday night's announcement comes 10 days after Rangers GM Chris Drury announced the team's plans to retool in a letter to fans.
Earlier on Monday, Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic reported the Rangers were about to send Soucy to the Islanders. He didn't play in Monday evening's game against the Boston Bruins, a 4-3 overtime win. ESPN's Emily Kaplan then reported the trade details in the evening. Both teams announced the trade after the Rangers and Islanders games finished.
Soucy, 31, is a defensive defenseman with three goals, five assists, 71 hits and 66 blocked shots in 46 games this season. Despite shooting left, he has played on the left and right sides of the blueline during his NHL career. He's also averaged 1:41 of penalty-kill time per game this season.
This is the second straight year that Soucy's been traded in the middle of the campaign. The Rangers acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks last March in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick.
New York Rangers GM Announces A Retool In Letter To FansThe New York Rangers have an eye toward the future after sitting near the bottom of the NHL. That means some veterans could be traded.Across parts of eight NHL seasons, Soucy has played 411 games and combined for 30 goals, 65 assists and 95 points.
The Minnesota Wild drafted Soucy in the fifth round, 137th overall, in 2013. He played 108 NHL games for the Wild before the Seattle Kraken claimed him in the 2021 expansion draft. After two seasons there, he signed with Vancouver in 2023-24.
The Viking, Alta., native joins the Islanders, which have been without left-shot D-man Alexander Romanov since he had shoulder surgery in late November. His recovery timeline was five to six months, and his contract, which carries a $6.25-million cap hit, is on long-term injured reserve.
Kyle Palmieri and Pierre Engvall are also on long-term injured reserve. Engvall was ruled out for the season due to an ankle injury, while Palmieri had surgery to repair an ACL tear in late November and was ruled out for six to eight months, bringing him to May on the short end of that timeline.
Those players' cap hits on the LTIR gave the Islanders more than $9 million of cap space when they acquired Soucy, and they likely won't have to shed cap space for the rest of the regular season unless they make more moves.
The Islanders sit third in the Metropolitan Division after Monday's 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers, meanwhile, are last in the Eastern Conference.
The last time the two rivals made a trade with each other was on May 25, 2010. Jyri Niemi went to the Blueshirts, while a sixth-round draft pick went to the Isles.
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Category: General Sports
